Samuel F. B. Morse, His Letters and Journals eBook

“December 17, 1824. I have everything
very comfortable at my rooms. My two pupils,
Mr. Agate and Mr. Field, are very tractable and very
useful. I have everything ‘in Pimlico,’
as mother would say.

“I have begun, and thus far carried on, a system
of neatness in my painting-room which I never could
have with Henry. Everything has its place, and
every morning the room is swept and all things put
in order....

“I have as much as I can do in painting.
I do not mean by this that I have the overflow that
I had in Charleston, nor do I wish it. A hard
shower is soon over; I wish rather the gentle, steady,
continuing rain. I feel that I have a character
to obtain and maintain, and therefore my pictures
must be carefully studied. I shall not by this
method paint so fast nor acquire property so fast,
but I shall do what is better, secure a continuance
of patronage and success.

“I have no disposition to be a nine days’
wonder, all the rage for a moment and then forgotten
forever; compelled on this very account to wander
from city to city, to shine a moment in one and then
pass on to another.”

In a letter of a later date he says:—­

“I am going on prosperously through the kindness
of Providence in raising up many friends who are exerting
themselves in my favor. My storms are partly
over, and a clear and pleasant day is dawning upon
me.”

CHAPTER XIII

JANUARY 4, 1825—­NOVEMBER 18, 1825

Success in New York.—­Chosen to paint portrait
of Lafayette.—­Hope of a permanent home
with his family.—­Meets Lafayette in Washington.—­Mutually
attracted.—­Attends President’s levee.—­Begins
portrait of Lafayette.—­ Death of his wife.—­Crushed
by the news.—­His attachment to her.—­Epitaph
composed by Benjamin Silliman.—­Bravely takes
up his work again.—­ Finishes portrait of
Lafayette.—­Describes it in letter of a later
date. —­Sonnet on death of Lafayette’s
dog.—­Rents a house in Canal Street, New
York.—­One of the founders of National Academy
of Design.—­Tactful resolutions on organization.—­First
thirty members.—­Morse elected first president.—­Reelected
every year until 1845.—­Again made president
in 1861.—­Lectures on Art.—­Popularity.

It is a commonly accepted belief that a particularly
fine, clear day is apt to be followed by a storm.
Meteorologists can probably give satisfactory scientific
reasons for this phenomenon, but, be that as it may,
how often do we find a parallel in human affairs.
A period of prosperity and happiness in the life of
a man or of a nation is almost invariably followed
by calamities, small or great; but, fortunately for
individuals and for nations, the converse is also true.
The creeping pendulum of fate, pausing for an instant
at its highest point, dips down again to gather impetus
for a higher swing.

And so it was with Morse. Fate was preparing
for him a heavy blow, one of the tragedies of his
eventful life, and, in order to hearten him for the
trial, to give him strength to bear up under it, she
cheered his professional path with the sun of prosperity.